MLB.com's Carrie Muskat has been covering Major League Baseball since 1981 and is the author of "Banks to Sandberg to Grace: Five Decades of Love and Frustration with the Cubs." You can follow her on Twitter @CarrieMuskat. Here, she blogs about the Cubs.

2/17 Lou's message: Let's get back on top

Lou Piniella has his preseason message ready for the Cubs.

“The message is, let’s get back on top,” Piniella said Wednesday. “The message is we finished second in this division last year with a lot of things that went wrong for us. The message is let’s work hard, get ready for a championship season, and let’s add another 10-12 wins to our total last year and give ourselves a chance in the postseason.”

This could be Piniella’s last chance at getting to the playoffs. He’s in the last year of his contract.

“I’ve got enough confidence in my ability to do the job,” Piniella said. “I’m going to go out and try to win as many games as we possibly can. We have a new ownership group here, they’re excited about owning the Cubs, they want to win, they’re competitive and that’s what we want to do for them. My situation, we can worry about that at the end of the year.”

This is his 23rd season managing, and Piniella said he does not want his status to be a distraction.

“Nothing’s changed,” Piniella said. “I’ve never really wanted to talk about my situation. My disposition as a manager is to stay in the background and let the players stay in the forefront. They’re the ones the people come out to the ballpark to see play and they’re the ones who win and lose baseball games for you.”

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